SABRE Senior Associate (REF)

The role

Our Real Estate Finance team is consistently ranked as Tier 1 in both Chambers and Legal 500. The team covers transactions in the UK and Europe, often pan-Euro or cross-border.  

The team provides the clients with a single source of multi-disciplinary advice that covers all aspects of the transactions which we are engaged on (finance, real estate, tax, corporate, capital markets and restructuring advice). We have continued to invest in those teams throughout most of the major economies in Europe so that we can provide a "one stop shop" service for cross-border deals, distinguishing us from competitors who lack that network.

Our combined expertise spans the complete spectrum of asset classes involving real estate finance products and sectors including the following types of deals:

• investment finance, including top tier sponsor transactions
• development finance
• loan-on-loan and other back leverage structures (teaming up with our New York office on repo financing where relevant)
• Senior/mezz finance
• CMBS
• crossover real estate infrastructure finance (including data centres)
• restructurings and work-outs
• performing and non-performing loan portfolio sales, purchases and financings
• CRE CLOs and other structured deals financing commercial real estate assets

We advise across the entire range of market participants, including investment banks, credit funds, asset managers, sponsors and arrangers. Our wider team also advises and is involved in industry discussions with governments and regulators and industry bodies/committees (e.g. the LMA, who we advise alongside AOS) and rating agencies.

Who you will work with

You will be part of our combined Real Estate Finance & Structured Debt team, which is at the cutting edge of the market. Uniquely among our competitors, we combine our real estate finance and our structured debt practice into one group, thereby enabling our team to advise on all aspects of the transactions listed above.

The Real Estate Finance and Structured Debt team in London is made up of 13 Partners with six covering Real Estate Finance and approximately 45 lawyers and 16 trainees. 

What you will be responsible for

You will advise clients on all aspects of the transactions listed above. You will be regularly working as part of cross-border and interdisciplinary teams essential to the delivery of the transactions we cover for our clients.

As a lawyer, your remit will be to:

• Draft core legal documents or (on top tier sponsor deals) advise on the key deal points and mark-up the main documents.
• Apply your legal expertise to help structure the deals.
• Lead (alongside the file partners) the transaction management of the above deals, which will often entail leading a team of colleagues drawn form across various practice areas and offices
• Deliver clear, commercial and market-informed, concise and tailored legal advice to clients.
• Drive the execution process.
• Manage and supervise other transaction parties including the wider CC team, external local counsel, junior lawyers and trainees and delegate appropriately.
• Help to develop client relationships, including through management of fee budgets and reporting of the same to clients, client training and networking. Sharing intel from the same in discussions with the partners and other Seniors
• Drive the efficient delivery of our transactions by using our multiple best delivery tools: e.g. templates, paralegal teams, , Legal Project Managers, legal tech tools including AI